WORCESTER - Longtime City Councilor Philip Palmieri has withdrawn from the November ballot for at-large City Council. Whether or not there will be 11 or 12 candidates on that ballot, however, is yet to be officially determined.

Palmieri has been a district councilor, currently in District 2, for 14 years. Last week, he finished 11th of 16 candidates in his first at-large preliminary election. Only the top six of 12 candidates in the general election are elected to the City Council.

Assistant Director of Elections Niko Vangjeli said Palmieiri withdrew just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday, less than an hour before the deadline. A quick interpretation of the city's charter by City Solicitor David Moore is that 13th place candidate Linda Parham would move into Palmieiri's spot on the ballot, but that is an unofficial determination.

A further review of the charter and election law is necessary, Vangjeli said. Moore's official recommendation could come tomorrow morning. The election Commission is scheduled to meet at 6:15p.m. in City Hall to set the ballot.

Parham could also have a chance to add her name to the mayor's race, but that, too, has yet to be determined.

Only three candidates chose to run for mayor They are sitting Mayor Joseph Petty, Councilor-At-Large Michael Gaffney, and William Coleman III.